This section is intended to introduce various aspects of the art, which may be associated with exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. This discussion is believed to assist in providing a framework to facilitate a better understanding of particular aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that this section should be read in this light, and not necessarily as admissions of prior art.
In hydrocarbon exploration, hydrocarbon development, and/or hydrocarbon production operations, several real time data systems or methods have been proposed. As a first example, a physical connection, such as a cable, an electrical conductor or a fiber optic cable, is secured to a tubular member, which may be used to evaluate conditions, such as subsurface conditions or downhole conditions. The cable may be secured to an inner portion of the tubular member or an outer portion of the tubular member. The cable provides a hard wire connection to provide real-time transmission of data. Further, the cables may be used to provide high data transmission rates and the delivery of electrical power directly to downhole sensors. However, use of physical cables may be difficult as the cables have to be unspooled and attached to the tubular member sections disposed within a wellbore. Accordingly, the conduits being installed into the well may not be rotated because of the attached cables, which may be broken through such installations. This limitation may be problematic for installations into horizontal wells, which typically involve rotating the tubular members. These passages for the cables provide potential locations for leakage of fluids, which may be more problematic for configurations that involve high pressures fluids. In addition, the leakage of down-hole fluids may increase the risk of cement seal failures.
In contrast to physical connection configurations, various wireless technologies may be used for downhole communications. Such technologies are referred to as telemetry. These communication nodes communicate with each other to manage the exchange of data within the wellbore and with a computer system that is utilized to manage the hydrocarbon operations. The communication nodes may involve different wireless network types. As a first example, radio transmissions may be used for wellbore communications. However, the use of radio transmissions may be impractical or unavailable in certain environments or during certain operations. Acoustic telemetry utilizes an acoustic wireless network to wirelessly transmit an acoustic signal, such as a vibration, via a tone transmission medium. In general, a given tone transmission medium may only permit communication within a certain frequency range; and, in some systems, this frequency range may be relatively small. Such systems may be referred to herein as spectrum-constrained systems. An example of a spectrum-constrained system is a well, such as a hydrocarbon well, that includes a plurality of communication nodes spaced-apart along a length thereof.
While the downhole wireless network may be beneficial, conventional data transmission mechanisms may not be effectively utilized. The conditions within the wellbore are unknown and unpredictable, as the downhole acoustic conditions may be defined by formation, cementation, and/or fluid compositions (e.g., gas, water and oil), which vary at different locations within the wellbore. For example, the selection of the appropriate frequencies of the acoustic signals are necessary to support the predefined communication (e.g., long range communication) with minimum power consumption. In addition, the communications may be further complicated because of changes that result from hydrocarbon operations (e.g., following fracking operations). Further, conventional approaches have been involve intrusive sensing methods for flow measurement, such as differential pressure sensing of flow-restrictive devices (e.g., restriction orifice, pitot tube), internal rotating devices (e.g., turbines), and radioactive methods for material identification.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the industry for methods and systems that are more efficient and may lessen problems associated with noisy and ineffective communication. Further, a need remains for efficient approaches to perform acoustic communications along tubular members, which may be within a wellbore. The present techniques provide methods and systems that overcome one or more of the deficiencies discussed above.